Of all the Star Wars characters, the man who played a 7-foot-3 creature with furry fingers is the most prolific at Twitter.

Among his nearly 3,000 tweets, Peter Mayhew, the actor who played Chewbacca, has chronicled his frustration with airport security agents and kept Star Wars fans updated on the adventures of a retired 69-year-old Wookiee living in the Wise County town of Boyd, just northwest of Fort Worth.

This week, Mayhew wrapped up his campaign to give followers a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the Star Wars triology.

“These photos aren't 'unseen',” Mayhew tweeted. “They've been out there a long time in various forms. I just been collecting them for 30+ years.”

The first image he posted on Jan. 7 was of Mayhew posing with Harrison Ford (Hans Solo), Anthony Daniels (C-3PO) and Carrie Fisher (Princess Leia). On Sunday, he wrapped up with a photo of Billy Dee Williams (Lando Calrissian).

In between, Mayhew shared about 100 images of the cast and production crew shot while they filmed the 1977 science fiction classic.

Everyone looks so young.

Mayhew, who had knee surgery September in Fort Worth, posted one of him, holding a bottle of wine, lifting Fisher in his arms. And there are a few more of Fisher in the attire that she wore while being chained to Jabba the Hutt.

Update at 8:30 a.m.: In a statement to The Associated Press, the Transportation Security Administration responded to Peter Mayhew’s delay in Denver: “Because of the unusual weight of the passenger’s cane, a security officer alerted a supervisor. Less than five minutes later the passenger and cane were cleared to travel. Social media played no role in the determination.” The TSA did not post its statement on its website.

Chewy, or Peter Mayhew, was returning to his home in Boyd (just northwest of Fort Worth) after Denver Comic Con.
Instead of any Jedi Mind Trick, the 7-foot-3 Mayhew turned to Twitter to express his frustration, prompting reply tweets to let the Wookiee go.

His first tweet on @TheWookieeRoars read: “Giant man need giant cane.. small cane snap like toothpick…. besides.. my light saber cane is just cool.. I would miss it..”

The TSA agents, apparently not Star Wars fans, eventually relented and decided Mayhew wasn’t the droid they were looking for.

Mayhew posted photos and kept tweeting once he got to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport: “Thank you to @AmericanAir for checking on me. Problem was all @TSA. I’m a million-miler on American and they are a class act.”

For the record, I’ve seen Mayhew’s light-sabre-shaped cane, last year at his appearance at an Arlington movie tavern. He posed for the photo on this post.

It’s a cool-looking stick. It’s hard to imagine TSA agents believing it was a threat, but it’s good to know that they’re on their toes.

Volunteers at "Blast-a-Stormtrooper for Charity" during Dallas Comic Con on Saturday, May 18.

Local members of the 501st Legion—“The world’s definitive imperial costuming organization,”—set up at Dallas Comic Con Saturday to do exactly you wouldn’t expect the evil Empire’s army to do: good.

Led by the Star Garrison, which covers three states, and the North Texas Squad, they sponsored “Blast-a-Stormtrooper for Charity.” For a price, garrison members in full costume copped a pose and were beaten down by Nerf Gun fire. All proceeds would go to Kari Giles, in treatment for stage four Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. North Texas Squad Leader David Petty, dressed in black as a TIE fighter pilot, said fundraising is integral to the group. They often volunteer at events and ask for charity donations.

“Our main focus isn’t just to wear costumes that are extremely screen accurate,” Petty said. “Our goal really is to raise money for charities, do hospital visits.”

Megan Yenter’s friend Giles will benefit from today’s fundraiser. She loves dressing up as a stormtrooper and celebrating the franchise, she said, but it’s even better that she gets to give back.

“I love the fact that I get to spend my weekends with amazing people that are backing something, you know, just like I am,” Yenter said.

Their room at the Irving Convention Center was shared with the Rebel Legion—some fans apparently belong to both—and was littered with props and discarded helmets. When John Morton, who played the rebel fighter Dack Ralter in The Empire Strikes Back, showed up to shoot a stormtrooper, the excitement in the room was palpable. Both groups gave him badges. Petty took off, happily, to be shot at by Morton.

As he lined up to take them out, Morton noticed they were also aiming weapons at him.

“Are they gonna shoot back?” he asked.

“Have you not seen Star Wars?” someone asked him, as if he hadn’t been IN Star Wars. “They shoot back, they just won’t hit anything.”

Morton came out of the firefight better than his character. But there was some trouble loading his Nerf Gun, and he took the chance to riff off a line he once delivered to Luke Skywalker.

“Everything’s a malfunction in fire control!”

Comic Con continues today. Online ticketing is closed, but Sunday general admission is available at the box office while supplies last and is $30 for adults, $5 for kids and free for kids under 4.

You will never find a more wretched hive of Pluto and Mickey. To me it makes perfect sense for Disney to swallow up the Star Wars world like that whale gulped down Pinocchio. The Star Wars movies have felt like craven, kiddie-friendly cash grabs since, Oh I don’t know, Return of the Jedi? What is an Ewok if not a stuffed animal come to life? The Land of Lucas should be right at home in the Magic Kingdom. Maybe Donald and Mickey can get CGI’d into a few scenes. Perhaps the Mos Eisley theme park is on the way. In any case, today’s news merely reaffirms standard showbiz logic. When there’s enough money on the table, Hollywood will never leave well enough alone.

Just got off the phone with Christopher Nolan (scoreboard); my story on him will run before The Dark Knight Rises opens July 20. One of my questions, which I like asking all filmmakers I admire: What movie had the most to do with you wanting to make movies?

For Nolan, it all started a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.

“Anyone my age would have to point to Star Wars,” says Nolan, who turns 42 this month. “It had a huge influence on me being fascinated by movies and the techniques of making movies. It was such a different and mind-blowing experience. I was seven years old when it came out, and the experience is firmly there in the back of my mind.”

Interestingly, when I ask filmmakers of a slightly earlier generation, the most common answer is another space fantasy: 2001: A Space Odyssey.

This is not an article bashing Diamond Distributing’s PREVIEWS, but, rather, a thought or two on whether comic book previews are spoiling the fun of reading comics.

In a tech-savvy world, filled with television, movie, and literature spoilers, how do we as fans feel about “privileged” information “leaked” by publishers?

When I sat back and thought about this question, I had two initial reactions. First I thought, cool, I get to see some inside-the-comic pages and find out what will be happening over the next few months of storytelling. Secondly, and more importantly in my opinion, I thought about how, when I read spoilers, it tends to dampen the impact of actually reading the comic.

Marvel is the worst offender when it comes to spoiling their own content. They will actually post on their own website the first 5+ pages of content in an upcoming release. I found that when I read the pages and then picked up the comic, I was skipping the pages that I had already read. Think about that for a second, not only is Marvel charging $3.99 for a 20-page book, but now since the first 5 pages have been spoiled, I am only reading 15 pages of content for $3.99. That just doesn’t seem right to me. Granted, Marvel is not the only offender, I just think that they might be the worst.

When it comes to creators spoiling work by talking about what is coming up in the next few months, I think it takes away from the surprise of finding out by reading the comic. Don’t get me wrong, sometimes I get sucked in by the promise of finding out what Ed Brubaker has to say about “Avengers vs. X-Men,” but I think that this type of information takes away from the fun. It takes away from the adventure.

I’m not calling out for some sort of revolt by fans against spoiler information, I’m just asking all of you to sit down and think for a minute about whether these types of “leaks” are actually adding to your enjoyment of the medium. If it is, then I am happy for you, but if it isn’t, maybe it’s time for these publishers to look into new ways of hyping up their content. Maybe like what Marvel has done so far for “Spider-Men.”Continue reading →

In hopes to localize some of the content that I post every Monday, I asked the owner, Tim Stoltzfus, of my local comic shop, More Fun Comics in Denton, to answer a few interview questions about owning a comic book store. The shop is located at 103 W. Hickory on Denton’s square, between the Abbey Inn and Atomic Candy.

JHB: Why did you want to own a comic book store?Tim: I love comics, and want to have the opportunity to expose others to what I enjoy. Comics and the community around them have done a lot for me over the years, and I wanted to help give back to and expand that community.

JHB: How did you get started as a comic book store owner?Tim: It was really as simple as waking up one day and realizing that it was what I wanted to do, and then pursuing that goal. Educating myself on doing so properly, getting together financing, all those things that go into starting any other business applies to comics as well. I had a little luck involved in getting connected with the Keith’s Comics stores to work together, as well.

JHB: Why open a store in Denton?Tim: We actually bought a previously existing store up here. I have a pretty clear vision for what I think a quality comic book store should be like, and ten years ago there wasn’t one like that in the area. I decided it was a big enough town with a rich creative community that would appreciate a store that dealt in the art of comics.

JHB: What is it like owning a store on Denton’s square?Tim: It is great! I see fresh faces every day, and Denton really is a community of people all trying to build a town that we all enjoy. I love that aspect of Denton the most, in that it really feels like a community of people as opposed to just a bunch of houses that happen to be next to each other.

JHB: How is owning a comic book store different from owning any other type of business?Tim: It is highly unpredictable in ways other business aren’t. Even if my store is perfect and well run, if the comic publishers aren’t releasing product that appeals to my customers, things can get ugly quickly. We aren’t selling hamburgers or toilet paper, we sell a commercial art form where the amount and quality of art on the market can shift quickly on a month to month basis. This works both ways, though. Sometimes a cultural flash point occurs and sales go crazy. When the Watchmen movie came out, in spite of it being a consistent top ten selling book for the previous twenty years, the sales of that book skyrocketed for about six months. It was a pretty crazy period.

JHB: How many hours a week do you spend at this store or working for this store?Tim: On average, I would say I put 70 hours a week into the business. There’s a lot to get done every single week.

JHB: What type of insights have you gained into the world of comic books from being a comic book store owner?Tim: Mostly learning more about the logistical side of the industry. There’s a lot more behind the scenes that goes on than people realize. Several years ago DC Comics took a group of retailers on a tour of their main printing facility in Quebec. Upon seeing the printing process up close, my first thought was a bit of shock at the fact that a single comic makes it through that whole process in mint condition in the first place!
The interview continues once you click over!Continue reading →

Here’s good news for Star Wars fans who want an unforgettable 3-dimension experience when the 3D version of Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menacehits theaters in the coming days.

Peter Mayhew, the 7-foot-3 English-born actor who played Chewbacca in four Stars Wars movies, is scheduled to make appearances at three Studio Movie Grill locations.

You can’t get any more 3D than in person.

Mayhew will be at the Studio Movie Grill locations Friday in Dallas (11170 N. Central Expressway), Saturday in Arlington (225 Merchants Row) and Sunday in Plano (4721 W. Park Blvd.). The Dallas and Arlington appearances will be from 6 to 8 p.m. Mayhew will be in Plano from noon to 2 p.m.

Mayhew, a resident of Boyd, which is a few parcecs away in Wise County, will be signing autographs at all three locations.

So, how is life as a retired Wookiee? To Peter Mayhew, it means a life of appearances in front of adoring fans at Star Wars shows throughout the galaxy, including McKinney. Mayhew, the 7-foot-3, 67-year-old English-born actor who portrayed Chewbacca in four Stars Wars movies, is scheduled to be at the Order 66 Toys shop starting at 7 p.m. Friday. An autograph and a meet-and-greet session will set you back $30 and spaces are limited. When not at fan shows, Mayhew spends his time in Boyd, a Wise County town off State Highway 114. It’s parsecs away from Chewbacca’s home planet of Kashyyyk, but Mayhew doesn’t mind. Texas, he said, “is the best place to be — most of the time.” Mayhew talked with neighborsgo about being Chewie, hanging out with the Star Wars gang, his new book and living in Texas.

Bioware and Lucasarts have finally announced that Star Wars: The Old Republic has a release date of Dec. 20 in North America. You can now cancel family Christmas gatherings accordingly.

TOR has been in development for a long time – it was first announced in 2008. That makes sense, because it’s an extremely ambitious video game that is attempting things no other Massively Multiplayer Online RPG has done before.

TOR is obviously going up against the mammoth of online RPGs, Blizzard Entertainment’s World of Warcraft. Sure, they’ll appeal to slightly different audiences (Sci-Fi vs. Fantasy) and WoW is showing some age, but whether or not the market can handle another big MMO that features monthly fees is a big question. So many games lately are going free-to-play, either from the get-go or as a change in order to attract more users. It was just announced a few days ago that DC Universe Online is going free to play in October. The market is changing, and I’m not sure anyone knows exactly how to deal with it.

Still, if any game has a chance at competing with WoW and attracting a viable monthly audience, it’s this one. You can pre-order the game now and hope to get early access before the game launches to the masses.